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Police comb mountain in search for ex-cop accused of killing 3

Law enforcement officers get their search dogs warmed up to continue the search for Christopher Dorner in the heavy snow at the Bear Mountain ski resort at Big Bear Lake, Calif., on Friday. (GENE BLEVINS / REUTERS)

By GREG RISLINGThe Associated Press

Fri., Feb. 8, 2013

BIG BEAR LAKE, CALIF.—All that was left were footprints leading away from Christopher Dorner’s burned-out pickup truck, and an enormous, snow-covered mountain where he could be hiding among the skiers, hundreds of cabins and dense woods.

More than 100 officers, including SWAT teams, were driven in glass-enclosed snow machines and armoured personnel carriers to hunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his police career.

With bloodhounds in tow, officers went door to door as snow fell, aware that they could be walking into a trap set by the well-trained former navy reservist who knows their tactics and strategies as well as they do.

“The bottom line is, when he decides that he is going to make a stand, the operators are in great jeopardy,” said T. Gregory Hall, a retired tactical supervisor for a special emergency response team for the Pennsylvania State Police.

As authorities weathered heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the mountains, thousands of police remained on the lookout throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico.

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Police said officers still were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant they said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use “every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordinance and survival training I’ve been given” to bring “warfare” to the LAPD and its families.

For the time being, their focus was on the mountains 130 kilometres east of Los Angeles — a snowy wilderness that creates peril as much for Dorner as the officers hunting him. Bad weather grounded helicopters with heat-sensing technology.

SWAT teams in camouflage have been scouring the mountains since the discovery of Dorner’s truck Thursday afternoon. As officers worked through the night, a storm blew in.

“The snow is great for tracking folks as well as looking at each individual cabin to see if there’s any signs of forced entry,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon.

The small army has the advantage of strength in numbers and access to resources, such as special weapons, to bring him in. Without that advantage, Dorner will likely rely on the element of surprise, experts said.

“He doesn’t even have to stand and fight,” Hall said. “He makes his shot of opportunity and flees.”

It’s an advantage that Dorner is well aware of. In his posting, he wrote: “I have the strength and benefits of being unpredictable, unconventional, and unforgiving.

“Whatever pre-planned responses you have established for a scenario like me, shelve it.”

Authorities said they do not know how long Dorner has been planning the rampage. It’s not clear if he is familiar with the area, or if he has provisions or weapons stockpiled nearby. Even with training, days of cold and snow can be punishing.

“Unless he is an expert in living in the California mountains in this time of year, he is going to be hurting,” said former Navy SEAL Clint Sparks, who now works in tactical training and security. “Cold is a huge stress factor.

“If he is not prepared to wait that out, or he hasn’t done it before, not everybody is survivor-man,” Sparks said.

Jamie Usera, who befriended Dorner when they were students and football teammates at Southern Utah University, said he introduced Dorner to the outdoors. Originally from Alaska, Usera said, he taught Dorner about hunting and other outdoor activities.

“Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation,” Usera, who had lost touch with Dorner in recent years, told the Los Angeles Times.

Others saw Dorner differently. Court documents show an ex-girlfriend called him “severely emotionally and mentally disturbed” after the two split in 2006.

For more news from around the world, see today’s World Weekly, available to home subscribers only.

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